In Italy is little known, yet its clear style and deals with themes that fascinate the reader from the first page. Born in 1910 in the town of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino, the Swiss writer Pio Ortelli states with a novel published in 1948 titled "The cave of the sand", a partly autobiographical story, where they emerge with force fatigue, anxiety and the torments of a family that manages to overcome poverty through hard work at the sand quarry owned by him. It 'a novel that offers a cross section of society in Ticino from the early decades of the twentieth century and still fascinates today for the inner depths of his characters. A novel that deserves to be published by an Italian publisher in order to propose even to readers of Italy. Here, with the following interview, as the prof. Renato Martinoni , professor of Italian literature at the University of St. Gallen, Ortelli presents Pio (d. 1963) and his work.
Prof. Martinoni, in your opinion what are the original characters of the narrative of Pius Ortelli ?
Ortelli è figlio del suo tempo. Nasce in una provincia e della provincia porta inevitabilmente anche i caratteri. Ma cerca subito di aprirsi, di conoscere, di fare delle esperienze letterarie. La sua originalità sta forse, un poco paradossalmente, nella sua fedeltà al paese in cui è cresciuto e al quale cerca di prestare la propria voce. Fa quello che anche altri, accanto a lui, fanno. Ci mette però molta sincerità e tanta buona voglia. Il grado di novità non è elevato. Ma si può essere originali anche scegliendo la via meno tortuosa.
Pio Ortelli
Il romanzo "La cava della sabbia" fu pubblicato nel 1948: come si può descrivere, In short, the cultural and social landscape within which the work is accepted ?
were years of great intellectual liveliness. Europe has just emerged from war and is rebuilding itself. The cultural world is very active: it reflects on the tragedies, communicates with the world is full of positive energy. The Italian-speaking Switzerland had the good fortune to anticipate almost, in a climate of freedom and democracy, these guidelines post-war. After 1943 had arrived several Italian exiles who had brought an air of novelty, many stimuli, interesting proposals, cultural updates. It is in this climate that the young Ortelli open eyes and ears. In his view
quanto c'è di autobiografico nel romanzo "La cava della sabbia "?
Ortelli è spesso autore autobiografico: nel senso che vuole farsi testimone di una civiltà, vuole documentarne i caratteri sociali e sentimentali; ma anche perché vuole ripensare le proprie esperienze personali. “La cava della sabbia” è un romanzo che narra una vicenda, almeno nei suoi tratti principali, reale. Anche la morte del fratello è qualcosa che è avvenuto davvero. E allora la scrittura diventa, almeno in parte, strumento di catarsi.
Sono diversi i valori umani che si respirano leggendo le pagine de "La cava della sabbia". Quali sono le sue considerazioni ?
Dicendo "valori umani" need to think about "values" of a civilization, the peasant who tries to keep himself in the world is rapidly changing. The protagonist of the novel is the one who leaves this world, not without remorse and guilt, at least try to redeem it. The price is high, however, as to suggest almost a "betrayal." It is the loss of values, one of the most common themes of the literature of those years.
Prof. Renato Martinoni , professor of Italian literature
University of St. Gallen (Switzerland)
What has prevented, according to her, a good statement Italy in the narrative of Pius Ortelli ?
probably what prevents almost all Italian-speaking Swiss authors to be read and known in Italy: the fact that they publish their books in Switzerland, with the consequent difficulty of distributing it in Italy, the quality, which does not always reach high enough "tall", a certain attitude of superiority (or cultural protectionism, which is perhaps the same) by the "beautiful country".
In "The mother of Ernesto," the writer of Mendrisio emphasizes the hesitations and the inner torments of the protagonist. Fears that are unique to the men who lived at the time of or concern even people Ortelli of our time?
With this question we turn away from the writer to get into a much larger size. The human anxieties do not have time, but belong to the right - and conscience - of man. In this sense, Ernesto, good and ill-tempered man who lives with his mother, can also be a character of our time.
What, in your opinion, the advantages and limitations of the short story "The Handbag", contained in the volume entitled "The mother of Ernesto ?
is the story of a handbag (and the salary of a poor family) ended up accidentally in a coffin and the coffin underground. And the macabre "recovery" of money that appears to everyone as a simpleton or a brutal act. Actually, who digs into the pit to open the coffin is only a poor man who must get back what they need to survive. On the one hand there is death, with its aura of mystery and sacredness, and second life, with its miseries. This story explains how two worlds can coexist. Sometimes, perhaps, just a hint of irony to deflate what appears unsolvable.
Based on his studies of fiction Ortelli, with words such as feel able to describe the religious dimension ?
That sounds a little religious "secular", meaning the value of life, morality, sense of duty and the extent, the struggle for dignity.
today - in her - Pio Ortelli cosa può dire ai giovani ?
Questa è la domanda più difficile. Può dire quello che tutti gli scrittori possono dire: molto, per chi li vuole ascoltare; poco, per chi non ha il tempo o la voglia di farlo. Io credo che Ortelli possa essere letto soprattutto come testimone di un'epoca: con i problemi del mondo che descrive, con la visione delle cose della società che rappresenta, con i sentimenti dei "personaggi pensierosi" che vivono, o che cercano di vivere, nelle sue pagine. ( a cura di Carlo Silvano )
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